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Angolmois -- the simple BMS player

Angolmois is a BM98-like music video game which supports the BMS format for playing. On a plethora of BMS players, Angolmois has a unique distinction of natively supporting multiple platforms and relatively recent BMS extensions.

Please refer the official website at http://mearie.org/projects/angolmois/. Angolmois is in active development, and you can report any bug or suggestion to https://github.com/lifthrasiir/angolmois/issues. If you don't know about BMS, read the introductory section at the end of this document first.

Features

How To Compile (Unix-like)

You need a C compiler with full C99 support. The author typically uses GCC 4.5 or later, but earlier versions or Clang may work. Have a path to the compiler in your $PATH.

You also need the following dependencies:

In Mac OS X, you'd better have Homebrew and issue the following:

$ brew install sdl2 sdl2_image sdl2_mixer smpeg2

(Note: At the time of this writing---2013-08-15---, Homebrew does not have the full set of SDL 2.0 libraries. Meanwhile you need to manually compile them, or better, file a pull request with appropriate formulae for Homebrew :)

In other platforms, you probably have a decent package manager so go for it. If your package manager has two versions of the library, use the "development" version (e.g. with the name ending with -dev).

Then the following command will do the work:

$ make

If not, you should check the result of the following commands first:

How To Compile (Windows)

Again, you need a C compiler with full C99 support. Unfortunately Visual C++ compiler is not suitable for this task (it is a C++ compiler after all); so you need to install MinGW first. You will need C and C++ compiler, and MSYS environment. (C++ compiler is required because smpeg requires C++ runtime, sigh.)

In theory, the above instruction should also apply to MSYS environment. In reality, MinGW does not come with a good package manager so it is hard to follow. So in this section I'll give an instruction which is barely enough to compile Angolmois and nothing else.

Download the following files:

Now extract all the files to your MinGW directory. All those *.tar.gz files have two directories i686-w64-mingw32 and x86_64-w64-mingw32. Choose one depending on your MinGW settings (choose the former if you use a stock MinGW). You need to copy files in that directory to three places:

Angolmois' Makefile assumes that pkg-config is available, so it won't work. Try the following command instead if make does not work:

$ gcc -Os -Wunused -Wall -W -std=c99 angolmois.c \
  -I/mingw/include/SDL2 -L/mingw/lib -lmingw32 -lcomdlg32 \
  -lSDL2main -lSDL2 -lSDL2_mixer -lSDL2_image -lsmpeg2 -o angolmois.exe

Then try launch it from MSYS:

$ ./angolmois.exe

It should launch a file dialog, and if you cancel it you will see a fast-scrolling usage. If it works fine in MSYS, also try launch it from outside. As far as I've tested, SDL 2.0's dependency is greatly reduced that libstdc++-*.dll and libgcc_*.dll are no longer required, but if you built SDL and related libraries yourself you may need them.

You are greatly welcomed to suggest easier build instructions in Windows. :(

How To Play

In the normal game play mode (see the next section for other modes), you will have the screen like this:

SCORE 0098304        |
--------------------'
    |  |  |  |  |  |
    |  |  |  |  |  |      +----------------+
____|__|__|__|__|__|      |                |
    |  |  |  |  |  |      |                |
    |==|GREAT|  |  |      |                |
====|  7 COMBO  |  |      |                |
    |  |  |  |  |  |      |                |
    |  |  |==|  |==|      |                |
    |  |  |  |  |  |      |                |
--------------------.     +----------------+
 3.0x     @  23.5604 |
          BPM  99.03 |
 _______v___________ |
         0:41 / 2:03 |
#############::::::::::::::

The game screen consists of the actual chart area (middle left), the information area (top/bottom left) and the BGA area (center). The BGA may not appear if the BMS file does not support it or you've disabled it.

The goal of the game is as other BMS players: to press the button (or spin the scratch etc.) according to the chart displayed as accurate as possible. The chart continuously flows from the top to the bottom (its rate may change however), and in each lane the note will move downwards. As the note touches the bottom of the area you should press the corresponding button. The accuracy is reported in the middle of the chart area: "COOL", "GREAT", "GOOD", "BAD" and "MISS". The last means that you have completely missed the note, and others are given according to the accuracy. If you have received a row of "GREAT" or better grades, the "combo" number will increase and your health gauge (the bottom of the screen) will also increase. "GOOD" does not affect the "combo" number, and "BAD" resets it and decreases the gauge. You have cleared the song when the gauge is above the threshold at the end of the song, and Angolmois will print the statistics like this to the console:

*** CLEARED! ***
COOL   697    GREAT  701    GOOD   149    
BAD     39    MISS    46    MAX COMBO 168
SCORE 0404681 (max 0732540)

If you didn't manage it (Angolmois does not support the notion of immediate death on depleted gauge), Angolmois will simply print:

YOU FAILED!

You can see the play speed (i.e. how fast the chart flows) at the bottom left of the screen (in this example, "3.0x"), and increase/decrease it by pressing F3 and F4. (See --speed and ANGOLMOIS_SPEED_KEYS for customization.)

The information area also displays the current score, the current measure position (useful for determining the parts of the song), the current BPM (i.e. how fast the song itself is) and the current song position along with the play speed.

The following facts will be useful for more serious players:

Command Line Options

Angolmois uses a command line for controlling its behavior. The following options are available:

--help, -h

Shows a brief usage.

--version, -V

Shows a version of Angolmois.

--speed <number>, -a <number>

Sets the initial play speed to <number>. The default speed is 1.0x (equivalent to -a 1.0).

The play speed can range from 0.1 to 99.0. Other than that, you can set it as you want, for example to 3.1415x. The play speed can also be changed with F3/F4 keys (or keys specified in ANGOLMOIS_SPEED_KEYS) during the game play, but this is limited to predefined speeds only.

The play speed does not affect the grading, and is only provided for convenience.

-1 to -9

Same as --speed 1.0 to --speed 9.0.

--autoplay, -v

Enables the AUTO PLAY (viewer) mode. In this mode, you can only adjust the play speed and the simulated play will be displayed.

--exclusive, -x

Enables the exclusive mode. In this mode, the screen is reduced to 256 by 256 pixels and the game play screen is entirely missing. The play position and information is displayed in the console. The ESC key still works when the screen is on focus, but other keys won't work.

--fullscreen is ignored in the exclusive mode; the screen will always launch in the new window.

If --no-bga (-B) option is also present, the screen does not launch at all and it becomes the sound only mode. In this mode you can only stop the playback with Ctrl-C (or equivalent signals like SIGINT).

--sound-only, -X

Enables the sound only mode. Same as --exclusive --no-bga.

--fullscreen

Enables the fullscreen mode. Starting from 2.0 alpha 3, Angolmois no longer requires the graphics driver support for exact 800x600 screen resolution for this mode, but it still requires the equal or larger screen resolution.

This is default, so there is actually no point to use this option.

--no-fullscreen, -w

Enables the windowed mode. The window is measured 800x600 or 256x256 depending on the mode. You need to focus the screen for key input (so beware of your meta or Windows key!).

--info

Shows a brief information about the song. In the normal mode, this will be overlayed on the loading screen; in the other modes it will print to the console.

This is default, so there is actually no point to use this option.

--no-info, -q

Does not show an information about the song. In the normal mode, this will only affect the loading screen. In the other modes, this will disable all output to the console (song information and playback status). This does not disable any warning or error message however.

--mirror, -m

Enables a mirror modifier, if this is the last specified modifier. (This is common to other modifiers; modifiers do not overlap each other.)

The mirror modifier flips the entire chart horizontally, except for the scratch and foot pedal (if any). You should input the keys accordingly; if a note at key 1 is moved to key 5 then you should press key 5. The modifier does not affect the timing (in fact, no modifier does so).

This is useful for patterns with many notes crowded in only one side.

--shuffle, -s

Enables a shuffle modifier.

The shuffle modifier swaps keys randomly. If, however, you have several notes common to one key, then those keys will move altogether. The modifier does not affect the scratch and foot pedal (if any).

This is useful for patterns with notes continuously flowing one side to another side (so called "floors"), as this makes a single hand handle too many notes. The modifier may break the chain, splitting the load to both hands.

--shuffle-ex, -S

Enables a shuffle modifier, but also affects the scratch and foot pedal (if any). Otherwise same as --shuffle. There is no difference between --shuffle and this modifier for PMS.

--random, -r

Enables a random modifier.

The random modifier swaps notes randomly. This means that you never know where the notes comes from, even if you fully memoized the chart. This also tends to make patterns hard to handle. You have been warned. ;)

This option handles long notes correctly, so there won't be a note accidentally swapped into the longnote.

--random-ex, -R

Enables a random modifier, but also affects the scratch and foot pedal (if any). Otherwise same as --random. There is no difference between --random and this modifier for PMS.

--preset <string>, -k <string>

Sets the key preset. The key preset is a predefined specification of how lanes are ordered and displayed. The following preset names are available:

All names are case-insensitive. If not specified, Angolmois automatically uses the preset pms for files which name ends with .pms and bms for others.

--key-spec <string> <string>, -K <string> <string>

Sets the custom key specification. This overrides prior --preset options. This option can be used for emulating various BMS extensions not supported by Angolmois itself.

The key specification composed of two strings, one for the left panel and one for the right panel. The distinction between two panels is only useful for couple play (#PLAYER 2), and they will be merged to one panel otherwise.

Each string contains three-letter lane specification optionally separated by whitespace (the string can be empty if the right panel is not used). First two letters are the note channel used for given lane (11, 26 etc.), and the third lowercased letter specifies the kind of given lane:

Primarly used for BMS/BME/BML:
a       White key
y       White key (displayed yellow)
b       Black key (displayed blue)
s       Scratch (displayed red)
p       Foot pedal (displayed green)

Primarly used for PMS:
q       White button
w       Yellow button
e       Green button
r       Navy button
t       Red button

One key cannot have multiple lanes. The maximum possible number of lanes is therefore 72 (10 to 1Z, 20 to 2Z), but 72 lanes surely won't fit in the screen so about 15 to 20 lanes are the sensible maximum. In fact, Angolmois issues an error when lanes can't fit in the screen and can cause a glitch. On the other hands, it is possible to have 5 or less lanes (the absolute minimum is just one lane) but Angolmois automatically adjusts the layout in order to avoid glitches.

In order to illustrate the point, the option --preset 10/fp is actually a shorthand for this equivalent key specification:

--key-spec '16s 11a 12b 13a 14b 15a 17p' '27p 21a 22b 23a 24b 25a 26s'

...and the OCT/FP extension which Angolmois does not support natively can be emulated as follows:

--key-spec '21p 16s 11a 12b 13a 14b 15a 18b 19a 22b 23a 24b 25a 28b 29a 26s' ''

--bga

Loads and shows the BGA.

This is default, so there is actually no point to use this option.

--no-bga, -B

Do not load and show the BGA. This is useful when you don't like distracted by the BGA, or you can't wait for the BGA loaded.

Combined with --exclusive, this option disables the screen. See --exclusive for more information.

--no-movie, -M

Do not load and show the BGA movie. This is useful when your system is slow so the BGA lags the entire game.

--joystick <index>, -j <index>

Enables the joystick. The <index> is normally 0, but if you have multiple joystick-compatible devices it can be higher. Ultimately you test for the correct value.

Angolmois' joystick implementation is targeted to the consumer Beatmania controller and its clones, so other devices may not work. If your device does not work with Angolmois, you may try joystick-to-keyboard utilities like Joy2Key.

Joystick input slightly differs from normal keyboard input. Most importantly, spinning the scratch forward and backward becomes different inputs (e.g. breaking the long note input).

--

Ends the option processing. You need this option before the file name if the file name starts with -.

File name

An argument not starting with - is considered a file name. You need the exact path to BMS/BME/BML/PMS file (the extension does not really matter except for PMS, though), and other image and sound files are resolved in the directory where the BMS/BME/BML/PMS file is (unless #PATH_WAV is in effect; see the "BMS support status" section).

You may have two or more file names, but only the first is used. Multiple file names are reserved for later extension.

If the file name is missing, and if you are using Windows version of Angolmois, the file dialog will ask for the BMS/BME/BML/PMS file. This makes a batch file using Angolmois relatively easier. In the other platforms, you may use dialog or zenity for similar functionality.

Environment Variables

The keys for Angolmois can be controlled with the environment variables (except for ESC, which is always used as an exit key):

ANGOLMOIS_1P_KEYS

Sets the keys for 1P. This environment variable is only used for BMS, BME or BML files (see ANGOLMOIS_XXy_KEY for actual details). The environment variable should follow the following format:

<scratch>|<key1>|<key2>|<key3>|<key4>|<key5>|<key6>|<key7>|<pedal>

...where <key1> etc. are actual keys for key 1. The actual keys are specified as a SDL virtual key name, such as a, right shift, or f1. (See the list in the SDL wiki.) The name is case-insensitive. You can leave the name as an empty string if you are not interested in that key (e.g. no 7KEY); in that case that key cannot be pressed in the game. Starting from Angolmois 2.0 alpha 3, keys are independent of the keyboard layout.

Multiple keys can be set, by separating each key name with %. (It looks obscure, but SDL uses lots of punctuations as a key name so we have no other choices.) Angolmois considers that the key is being pressed when the first actual key mapped to it is being pressed, and the key is being unpressed when the last actual key mapped to it is being unpressed. Unpressing one key while other mapped keys are pressed is ignored.

When the joystick is available, special key names button <index> and axis <index> can be used. The <index> should be a number from 0 to the number of buttons/axes minus 1. Note that the joystick axis is considered as an input when the axis is out of the origin by more than 10% of its range, and moving the axis from one end to another end is considered as unpressing then pressing the key (this is how the consumer Beatmania controller works). This may not suitable for other devices.

The default value is as follows:

ANGOLMOIS_2P_KEYS

Sets the keys for 2P. This environment variable is only used for BMS, BME or BML files. The format is as follows:

<pedal>|<key1>|<key2>|<key3>|<key4>|<key5>|<key6>|<key7>|<scratch>

Otherwise same as ANGOLMOIS_1P_KEYS. The default value is as follows:

ANGOLMOIS_PMS_KEYS

Sets the keys for 9KEY. This environment variable is only used for PMS files (see ANGOLMOIS_XXy_KEY for actual details). The format is as follows:

<key1>|<key2>|<key3>|<key4>|<key5>|<key6>|<key7>|<key8>|<key9>

Otherwise same as above. The default value is as follows:

ANGOLMOIS_SPEED_KEYS

Sets the keys for play speed change. The format is as follows:

<speed down>|<speed up>

Otherwise same as above. The default value is as follows:

ANGOLMOIS_XXy_KEY

Sets the keys for given channel. The format is same as above, but | cannot appear. This kind of variables are processed after other environment variables, so they can override keys for the specific channel. A key itself can be used for only one channel however.

These are intended as a general way to set keys when --key-spec is used. Like --key-spec, XX should be an uppercased alphanumeric key for the note channel (11, 26 etc.) and y should be one lowercased letter which identifies the kind of that channel. See --key-spec for details.

If multiple environment variables for same channel and different kind are available, Angolmois uses at most one variable with the matching channel and kind (or none if there is no match). This distinction is also used for ANGOLMOIS_{1P,2P,PMS}_KEYS environment variables: they assign the specified keys only when the channel and predefined kind agrees to each other.

BMS Support Status

In brief, Angolmois supports the following commands and channels:

Due to the sheer amount of contents, the remainder of this section has been moved to INTERNALS.md file.

Appendix: What is BMS?

This section is a brief history and introduction to BMS. You can skip this section if you already know BMS and are ready to play.

BMS is originated from Konami's successful music video game, Beatmania. First released in December 1997, Beatmania was so influential in the music video game genre that lots of clones (and especially PC clones) have been produced. One of such clone, BM98, was developed as a simulator for practicing Beatmania charts. Since the game lacked the actual game data, and it is no way to legitimately get it, BM98 devised its own data format so anyone can make the charts for BM98. This formed the basis of the modern BMS1 format.

While BMS originally targeted the reproduction of commercial music game, it has much more used as a medium of amateur or free music accompanied by music game element. It has survived the initial demise of BM98 (Urao Yare had to stop the development due to the legal and personal concerns), and its plain text nature allowed other programs (now called "BMS players") can use and extend it at their own needs. The entire BMS subculture has emerged (this is comparable to the modern demoscene), and it was a de facto gateway for amateur musicians until mid-2000s when the websites like Nico Nico Douga have taken this role. Nevertheless, the BMS scene is very much alive to this day, and thousands of original BMSes are produced every year.

As a music video game, BMS is a reproduction of Beatmania which used five keys and one turntable ("scratch"). There are now dozens of other modes of BMS, of which the following are widely used:

The maturity of BMS scene made easy to get quality BMSes. The followings are common methods:

Appendix: Acknowledgements

I'd like to thank to the following persons for inspiration and advice:

Footnotes

  1. It is obvious that the "BM" of BM98 alludes Beatmania, but it has explicitly backronymed to "Be-Music" to avoid the trademark problem. BMS thus stands for "Be-Music Script" or "Be-Music Source". ↩